Google ends Play Services Support, likely to stop these Android phones from downloading apps & games
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Google ends Play Services Support, likely to stop these Android phones from downloading apps & games")
Representative image. Photograph: (Unsplash)
Functioning as a background service, Google Play Services underpins a range of core Android features, from signing into Google accounts and receiving push notifications to location tracking, Maps functionality, security verification, and data syncing.
Google has discontinued Google Play services for devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, bumping the minimum required version up to Android 7.0 Nougat. Devices stuck on the older OS won't stop working immediately. Still, they may gradually lose the ability to download new apps or get Play Store updates through as developers phase out support for older Android versions.
The change impacts phones that cannot be updated past Android 6.0, an operating system which came in 2015. Google has updated the minimum Play Services requirement now set at Android 7.0 (API level 24), effectively closing the book on Marshmallow support after years of backing it.
Functioning as a background service, Google Play Services underpins a range of core Android features, from signing into Google accounts and receiving push notifications to location tracking, Maps functionality, security verification, and data syncing. It also gives developers the APIs needed to integrate Google-powered capabilities into their apps.
Meanwhile, Google Play Services is different from the Google Play Store. Several Android apps depend on it to install, update and function properly. After the end of Play Services support, developers are likely to slowly drop compatibility with Android 6.0 devices, resulting in users eventually discovering certain apps that can no longer be downloaded from the Play Store; however, others might stop receiving updates or fail to work correctly.
Will your phone stop working?
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Not entirely. Devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow will still be able to handle basic functions like calling, texting, viewing photos, and running apps already installed on them. That said, the overall experience will likely worsen with time. Since newer app versions demand updated Play Services and more recent Android builds, users can expect growing compatibility problems.
Core functions like signing into Google accounts, using location-based features, and receiving push notifications could also start acting unreliably. Additionally, without further Play Services updates, these phones won't get future security patches, leaving them increasingly exposed to newly emerging threats.
